Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Guarded apologies to any remaining readers that minutes from last week did not materialize even though there was a gathering, and I was present. The passion for posting minutes waxes and wanes... and my sense is that I should be somewhat more diligent in preparing a second secretary for the waning times.

It also becomes more difficult when it really feels like there is no significant news, and conversation is as disjointed as it becomes when there are 10+ people at the table with only a few of them seriously thinking about biking at this time of year.

So, with a few excuses laid in place... a bit of recollection to last week, and then basically nothing from tonight.

December 7

There was in fact significant news at the meeting. Dr. Hubie sustained an injury in a bike - tree collision... to the point where walking became tricky in the following days and participation in hockey was impossible. The culprit was ice as he headed down a hill in the Wolseley region. This evening (December 14), he was dubbed "bark boy" by the master of one-liners, Bob H, convener of Tuesday night hockey. James didn't get it.

December 14

Vic P. walked into the clubhouse and asked about buying a bike for his son. After receiving his third independent recommendation for a single-speed from Natural Cycle, he appeared to be taking the suggestion seriously. While this secretary is still attempting to distill fact from peer/club pressure over the relative merits, Vic may be convinced. Good for Natural Cycle, not as good for Canadian Tire.

OK, so December 14's minutes appear a few words longer... no disrespect intended to the Hubie crash story.

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

minutes, minutes, minutes....my lord who will do the minutes when darryl does not show up (no darryl, you will not you will not be turfed as secretary just because you did not show up). what do i remember from last meeting - well not much. i did bring honey roasted peanuts which seemed to go over well. i guess that's it for minutes. on another note jon g, dave u, and johnny s enjoyed a fabulous day snow cycling at tinker on nov 21. depending on how much snow has fallen well see if another tinker ride is in the cards. also - i'm looking forward to more details regarding dr. hubie's big wipe out this last weekend (if we can get him to drink enough dark, mixed with the pain medication he is surely on, maybe we can convince him to show us the bruise which would involve the dropping of his drawers).

Thursday, November 25, 2004

It was classic rock night at the clubhouse. What with the new weather, there was more discussion of tunes than biking, although Hal did ride... the faithful are becoming fewer.

Sounds like there will be a Tinker Creek ride of sorts on Sunday. Contact Hal for more info.

Now that there is snow on the ground, it's time for some to begin training for the Icebike race... OK, we should all be training... but some of us are still working on training a more cerebral understanding of the race. We're visioning the action, and pain. It could take some time before that translates to the physical... I expect years for some.

And further to crashing with a helmet cam... if you haven't been to the pedalmasher site, check out the top two videos on the crash list on this page:
http://www.pedalmasher.com/html/videos.html they're pretty good, and not really huge files.
Remember to right click them and then "Save target as..." to your desktop or wherever and then view them.

Monday, November 15, 2004

Chris sent this link to me the other day. A great collection of riding video created with a helmet cam. If your computer can do it, check a few out. There's a couple of dandy wipe-outs recorded. It's amazing how quickly the crash happens. I can imagine this would have been what Penner's incident might have looked like...
www.pedalmasher.com

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Not much bike discussion this eve. Unger and Jonny G spent the evening riding... even going so far as to ride to the Vimy Arena to catch a little Hummelt Hockey action. They caught some classic action, but left before the action peaked with a good collision between line-mates and fellow FGBC members Luke and Dr. Hubie. Blood was drawn on both sides. Chris managed a deep cut to the bone on the elbow that was still bleeding fairly well by the time we got to the post game meeting.

Some minor biking related excitement surfaced when Chris suggested that we all pitch in and get a helmet cam. Suggesting they could be had for as little as $150. Some quick research on the web turned up some options, although not as cheap as $15o:
the adventure cam for $235USa Canadian dealer - $249USIf anyone has connections to a cheaper system, we should consider it... At $200+US, it may not get off the ground as quickly. Although it could be worth it... can you imagine having video of the president's crash from on his head?

Thursday, November 04, 2004

last night, around 11:00 pm, i was cycling home from my curling game (at least there are no cars on curling sheets) on grovesnor. i was well prepared for night riding with a blinking headlight, two red blinkies on my back, and a jacket with reflective tape on the arms and body. i was cycling west on grovesnor, keeping a pretty good clip of 30+ kms per hour. i usually like cycling on this street because it is nice and wide, allowing cars to pass you with ease and because it is not a major thoroughfare. as i was speeding down grovesnor i saw a white volvo station wagon pulling up to the stop sign on my left a block ahead. as always, i put my hands on the brakes in case i needed to stop suddenly. the volvo came to a complete stop and waited, 'great' i thought, 'he sees me' and i continued at my pace, relaxed that i could continue at my present pace. just as i was about to go through the intersection (i had no stop sign) the volvo begins to pull ahead -- i grab my brakes hard and start a sideways skid, suddenly my tires grab and i flipped off my bike, hitting the ground and rolling to a stop in front of the car. i looked up to see the headlights of the volvo staring me in the face. thank god he saw me at the last minute and stopped halfway through the intersection. to say the least i was a little shaken at this point, i picked myself up and walked towards my bike, picked it up, and began to collect myself. i looked over at the car which just sat there, nothing was happening, just me standing there and staring at the car in disbelief at what had just happened. after a few moments the car inched forward with the passenger window was rolled down. a voice came out from inside the dark interior of the car, "i'm sorry... i'm sorry..., i didn't see you. i didn't see your light." what could i say, do i go off on this guy, what do i do. "at least you said you were sorry" i said to him as i walked around the back of the car with my bike. all i wanted to do was go home, thankful that i was still alive and in one piece. the volvo pulled away and i got on my bike and continued my ride home replaying the incident over and over again in my head. i got home, put my bike in the basement, took off my bike gear and went upstairs to let laura know what happened and that i was okay.

Saturday, October 30, 2004

I move that the secretary be fired, and that someone with more passion for the cause take up the role...
What? No seconders?

Well, it's been a very busy week. There was a nice meeting on Tuesday. I can't remember anything about it except for the discussion about Hal's bread baking set-up.... oh yeah, and his winter bike crank is seized. (There's the biking content.) I know there was more... anyone is welcome to chime in at this point...

Friday, October 15, 2004

Came closer than I ever have before to being hit by a car this morning. Or rather, it would have been me hitting the car--t-boning it in this case, as it pulled out in front of me. I saw it coming, just past Johnny G's street, the one by the school, when the car rolled through the stop sign and I knew his sight of me was obscured by the cars parked along the ever so slight hill I was riding down at that point. No problem, or so I thought, as I began to swerve to the right in order to go behind him. But then he saw me, panicked, hit the brakes, and just sat there in front of me--like a big steel moose frozen by the headlights. All I could muster was a loud, drawn out "F-U-C-K!" But fortunately my instincts were more articulate than my feeble vocabulary, and I was able to brake hard enough and avoid going down on the slick pavement as I veered even further around his back end. To give the guy credit, he did roll down his passenger window and yell "Sorry!" as I passed by the other side. And to my credit, I gave him a little wave--admittedly an ambiguous, half-assed wave with a the kind of slight flick of the wrist that could easily have led to interpreting the whole thing as a curt dismissal--but nonetheless a wave with all five fingers and not the one I had cocked and ready to go. Shit, that was scary. My heart's still thumping a little harder and faster than normal. But I live to ride another day.Hit the gym for the first time this week. Hope to get there 2 or 3 times a week for mostly leg-work. Don't know what the policy is for use of CMU's humble weight room, but if anyone wants to join me around 4pm Monday or Wednesday, that would be great.In other firsts: I donned tights for the first time this morning. This cold, rainy weather really sucks. Hopefully it won't wipe out the Tinker ride this weekend.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

an unofficial/official fgbc ride was held on the thanksgiving monday. juan eppstien, dr. hubie and crash enjoyed a 45km ride out to headingly and back on a gorgeous holiday monday morning. much discussion, including past work experiences, heating solutions for homes, a report on the "motorcyle diaries," among other topics, was discussed along the way. one sprint took place with where the three riders managed to sustain a pace of 42km per hour for a goodly stretch. looking forward to future rides.

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

There is reason to believe that James was burgled this evening.... had $15 plus a MasterCard starting the evening, by the time he was trying to pay for his beverage, and had a massive stack of wallet contents spread out, the aforementioned items were not to be seen...

It seems the ride at Tinker Creek will be on this Saturday. An unfortunate turn in the calendar for this reporter... but it seems it will work out for many. Watch this space in the next days for more details from Hal, our liason.

Question on Jonny G's whereabouts... third missed meeting in a row. At first he was proclaimed out of the club by one member, then it got worse... he was moved to "Luke status". Finally, cooler heads prevailed, and the six-pack rule was brought back, retroactively. A six for every unexcused absence. The total is now at three.

Hal is now in charge of the fundraising bonspiel to raise money for the new jerseys. The, well, rather pointed question was launched on how this was going to be a fundraiser.... stunned silence revealed a thin spot in the plans.... one suggestion was brought forth: charge each FGBC member enough to cover the cost of the ice plus $50 to be in the spiel, then everyone attending wins a jersey from the collected pot. There, the funds are raised.

being the secretary, I have to admit that I have no minutes to report... at least nothing pertaining to biking whatsoever...

I sensed there was some discussion of that nature down at the other end of the table, but it really is difficult to connect when so many folks are there... perhaps someone who touched on the topic of biking in any way, could provide a thought or two. If you are not hooked up to be able to post, email me, and I can get you going ASAP.

It was nice to see a large crowd gathered. Nine or ten people is exceptional... but it does include some of the hockey crowd which began on Tuesday.

I might as well use this forum to report that Dr. Hubie scored not only the first goal of the season, but his tally exceeded three (in the interest of discretion and knowing that he is one of the more humble in our collective, you can email him to find out how many he really got), and that I did pot one, as well as providing assists on a few of the aforementioned goals as we were on a line together.

We learned that our ice time will usually go til 10:30, so it will be rare that the hockey part of the crowd will arrive before 10:45.

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

minutes from last week's meeting - i can't seem to remember any details so i'll try and and recapture the mood - sort of relaxed without any particular intensity or deep philosophical discussion on any particular topic. vaguely recall some discussion about tyler hamilton and blood doping.

hal "i have too many excuses" l - 6th in masters B (ok, my excuse for this one is i was running too big a gear on my single speed, which by the way i think i came in first of the four single speeds running in the B group).

Thursday, September 23, 2004

At kilometre 115 of today's stage, Floyd abandoned the race. Bummer.As for Hamilton, here's the latest press release:"The blood samples examined in the B-Test under the UCI procedure are positive. The B-Test blood samples taken under IOC however will turn out negative. Since the new method is an effort based on probability and interpretation measurements, uncertainties will remain in this examination and procedure in any case."Confused?I tried breaking into my u-lock this morning, but failed. I wish I could say that I now lock up my bike with confidence that it will be there when I'm done for the day.

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

A bit of a small turnout at the F&H last night. For a while it looked like it might just be me and the book I brought along to read just in case, but eventually a couple of others srtaggled in--and Penner did put in a showing of sorts via the phone. It took a few calls of "Johnny G? Is there a Johnny G here?" from the bar before Bergen and myself clued in that the bartender waving the phone in the air might have something to do with us. But while there may have only been three of us who were physically present, once again we had 100% participation in the bike ridership program. Not sure which is the more significant figure. Perhaps the meeting was more of a success than we first thought. Once again, the Dark was good--almost as classic as the F&H tunes.

No significant actions to report, but a wide ranging conversation covered such topics as enrollment trends at Manitoba's universities, Donald Rumsfield, Aiden's piece in the Free Press as well as the larger issue of rapid transit and the relative merits of the critical mass as a form of bike advocacy, Bergen's powerpoint skills, and Hal's oven, not to mention the u-lock/Bic pen crisis, and Tyler Hamilton's apparent blood doping problem.

We'll see how this latest saga turns out. But things don't look good for Hamilton and the world of pro cycling in general these days. David Millar, Phillipe Mierhage, and now Hamilton. Those are some pretty big names in the world of cycling. A couple of world champions and an Olympic gold medallist. I have to say I'm a bit bummed about this, as Hamilton always seemed like the good guy of the peloton. Even Dave of Evil Cyling's Pro Cyclists Suck has a soft spot for Tyler. Perhaps Floyd is also a bit sidetracked by the dim outlook of the guy he's signed on to ride for next year. He lost over 15 more minutes today in the Vuelta and now sits almost 25 minutes back, suddenly hurtling towards the middle of the pack. Heras increased his lead on Valverde, who also cracked today, and now has a lead of just over 1 minute over Hamilton's Phonak teammate, Santiago Perez. If Valverde can stay within 2:30 minutes, though, the final time trial should still be interesting, as Heras will likely lose some time on the final stage.

Monday, September 20, 2004

nice to see some fgbc members on the eden foundation fundraiser ride this weekend. members in attendance included dave u, johnny s, and myelf. 42+ km of riding was enjoyed, much of it into a stiff headwind. to show for our efforts, i believe that all of came away with spiffy new cycling socks.

Sunday, September 19, 2004

Sadly, Floyd continues to fade in the Vuelta. He lost another couple of minutes in the uphill ITT today, and now sits in 7th at over 8 min. behind Heras. But Valverde is closing in. After picking up 44 seconds on Heras today, he sits only 5 seconds behind the GC leader. Once again this is turning out to be an extremely tight and exciting race. Why is the Vuelta always so close? The last two years were won on the final day. There always seems to be much more drama and suspense than the Tour. I suppose the absence of some guy named Armstrong helps. Too bad we can't get it on TV. One more week of racing left and all kinds of things can happen yet.

Thursday, September 16, 2004

Even though everyone could see it coming, nobody could stop Roberto Heras from attacking on the final climb today. Floyd rode well and looked strong up until about 8km from the finish. But that's when the elite group of 9 started to blow apart. First Valverde and then Heras put in big-time attacks that splintered the group to bits. Floyd ended up conceding just over 3 minutes to Heras on the stage, and now sits in 5th place, 2.19 behind Heras and about 1.30 from Valverde for the final podium spot. Sunday's uphill ITT looms large and should allow for Heras to further solidify his grip on the golden jersey. But hopefully Floyd can hang in there and gain some time back on the final ITT to at least get back to the podium. Stay tuned.

The comments I walked into were related to the status of various members in the Klub...
... while we did start off with a more open, kind of, "everyone's in the Klub, they just don't know it yet" kind of feeling, there are clearly regular attenders/riders that want a bit more definition and hierarchy... Like, if you've never been to a meeting or a ride, are you in the Klub? At this point, this agenda seems fairly strong with a couple of members... only time will tell if this discussion turns into some sort of codification....

More discussion about the "new" Ingolf riding... and how it turns out the larger mountain bike community seems to know all about it... so we turned to looking for scapegoats to hide our embarassment... the two guys, the girl and the dog are to blame for us not knowing more...

The fall ride option is faltering a bit... that weekend (Thanksgiving Long) is admittedly, a little tricky.... a couple of members have announced they simply cannot be there, the majority of us seemed to be looking for a leader who will rally the flagging hopes, and put new life into the discussions we have had and will be having on the various home fronts. If three members could say, "Yay and verily, we shall ride!", I think we'd have something.

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

No big news on Floyd to report. Same 9 second lead as yesterday. But Valverde had a nasty crash and, while he finished the stage, is being Xrayed for broken bones, etc. But the big news of the day was fellow Postie, Dave Zabriske, who got off the front just 3 km into the stage and held his lead right up to the end. He led for as many as 20 minutes at one point, and held off the peloton to finish over 1 minute ahead of a bunch of frustrated sprinters. Breakaways like this are a dime a dozen, but almost never succeed. Pretty exciting. Almost worth investing the the 2004 Vuelta DVD when it comes out. But I'll wait and see how Floyd does before pre-ordering.

Monday, September 13, 2004

After two mountain-top finishes, Floyd still wears the golden jersey, though he's lost some geound to the Spanish climbers--particularly former teamate and last year's winner Roberto Heras and new kid on the block Alejandro Valverde. Fancisco Mancebo is also in the hunt, as is Isidro Nozal who held the lead for most of the race last year before conceding over 2 min. to Heras in an uphill time trial on the last day of the race--Mike Wier style. Floyd will have to find his climbing legs if he wants to stay in the mix, because after a relatively easy day tomorrow and Wednesday's rest day things get crazy again. Aside from a few more tough mountain stages, there are two time trials left. One is uphill and favours Heras and the Spaniards. But the last day of racing is a 30 km flat time trial, which could be an opportunity for Floyd to gain back a couple of minutes. Hopefullly, he'll still be in it at that point. Go Floyd!

Saturday, September 11, 2004

Our man Floyd showed good form in today's time trial, finishing third--18 seconds behind Tyler Hamilton. More importantly, however, he regained sole possession of the overall lead. He's now back in gold and can't wait for the chance to race for more kisses from the podium girls. Each of the next three stages ends with an uphill finish, so things should really start to take shape. Let's hope those climbing legs he showed off in the Tour are still there. Stay tuned.

Thursday, September 09, 2004

It seems some sort of ongoing watch of the Vuelta a Espana is in order. Honourary FGBC member Floyd Landis is currently tied for the GC leadership with hit teammate Manuel Beltran. He's looking strong, and appears to have as good a shot at winning the whole thing as any of the other serious contenders. We'll just have to wait and see how things shake out in the upcoming time trials and mountains. Check out this picture of Floyd in the golden leader's jersey after Stage 1. Go Floyd!

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

The big news: eight attendees on a couple hours notice, eight attendees all arriving on bike!Is there anything more to say? This whole silly business is getting a little serious...Present: Juan, Unger, Jonny G, President, Secretary, Bergen, Hal, Dr. Hubie.The other important news is the date for a potential fall ride: October 9. Yes, the Saturday of the Thanksgiving Long weekend. Seemed to be the best chance of decent attendance. Everyone now needs to check their calendars and more importantly, check in with the family plans, or explain why the FGBC is more important than the family plans. (perhaps we could have an open brainstorming session in the comments section to help those who a) aren't as creatively gifted, and b) will have a significant "discussion" on their hands.)A good deal more information was shared about the Ingolf ride that was mentioned in the last post. Jonny S apparently claims something to the effect that discovering the new trails was as exciting as going into DisneyLand when you thought the parking lot was awesome... (someone else may need to sharpen the delivery of that line.)One fine story that surfaced from Hal's riding recently was how his friend Gord F. bust his derailleur hanger, so the Loewen boys helped him turn it into a temporary single speed... while experiencing some trouble with the chain not staying on the right ring in the back, he managed to get his hand jammed in between the chain and the teeth of the back chainrings... ouch. While there may have been other good stuff, it's been forgotten by now...Oh yes, it sounds like next Tuesday might be a dog fest at Juan Eppstein's. Stay tuned for confirmation on this.

Labour Day weekend, which means another weekend rendezvous with one of those offshoot bike clubs that has loose connections to the FGBC--"loose" in the sense that they are the kind of bike club where the bikes are actually for riding. This time around that meant a couple of wet, muddy rides at Ingolf and camping near the inaugrual Spring Ride site at West Hawk. The exciting news is that what was previously thought to be the end of the trail turns out to be merely a place for Juan Eppstein to show off his shiny white ass on a mid-ride skinny dip. Johnny S discovered more trail close by, which turned out to be a virtual goldmine: 10-12 more kms of trails, which eventually hook back up with Ingolf, along with a series of other forks that promise still more opportunities. Generally more of the same sort of technical riding, though perhaps a bit more trail-like than the old stuff. Highlights include a couple more lakeside stops for Juan, a section of sweet, rocky, and hilly singletrack, a 100 metre plus section of continuous flowing stone riding, a beaver dam crossing, a hike-a-bike cliff climb, and a few bridge crossings to begin perparing for the Northshore trip in years to come.Consensus was that all of this--plus the possibility of still other trails that weren't explored--easily catapults Ingolf back to the top of the list for next year's spring event.Despite the usual scrapes and bruises, no broken bones or hospital visits to report, though Johnny S is sporting a swollen middle finger.Cheryl fought hard to retain the post of bike club wench, amidst all the rumours which are starting to circulate that there are others interested in trying to wrest that title away from her. Still, since we are a serious club always looking for good support services, other interested parties should send resumes to the secretary.

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

sorry, it took me a bit to get the comments fixed so all can post comments without registering. Now all can get into the heated discussion between Chris and Steve on the merits of technology and biking... I must admit Steve made a strong point recently... and the whole business is going to get even more complicated, if not messy when I have to scan Chris' bile soaked napkin posts...

After a month or so of frustrations with my ailing ride I decided to make an improvement. It was going to be a new chain. It ended up to be new wheels/hubs, new cogs, new cranks/chain rings and bottom bracket, and derailers front and back.

After much staring and studing it was decided that I should enlist in some help to get the cranks off. Jonny G came by, crank puller in hand, and the fight was on. You may wonder what does your bike require of you to recplace your cranks. My bike required 2 beers, a friend, hammer, 2x4 wood stud, torch, and 2 more beers. It took about 2 hours, after much heat and hammering Jonny got on the bike and jumped on it. the crankes were ready and yes the came off..... eventually.

The bottom bracket only took a 8 foot braker bar, another friend's tool and some patience (by ones wife--who just delivered her fourth child).

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Another race, another dose of shitty weather. Left Altona at 7am so I could get to Falcon in time to do a little warm-up. At sign-in, I'm told the race starts at 12 noon, not 11 am as previously announced. Classic MCA organization. At least there was a fire in the chalet fireplace to keep us warm. They ran the course backwards this time, starting with the usual climb but then sending us into the trees, down the boardwalk, and backwards through the outer limits, with a few new sections thrown in to keep it interesting. At the start I was able to stay with the lead group for the first 2 km. This is an improvement, as I usually find myself chasing after get dropped right at the start. But after losing my chain in the first technical section they were quickly out of sight. Time to ride my own pace. I knew I was still 3rd or 4th so my efforts turned less to gaining ground than to avoid losing more. It wasn't raining during the race, but the course was muddy and wet. For me that meant running over the more technical sections. Ended up catching another rider, then getting passed again, and riding with him in sight for the next half a lap, waiting for the right moment to try and make a move. He was a better technical rider, I was better on the hills. Unfortunately, Falcon is more technical than hilly. In any case, about halfway through the 3rd lap all the riding at Tinker Creek the day before came back to haunt me. Just didn't have the legs to catch up. Ended up finishing 4th, just off the podium.Sounds like there's talk of a possible fall FGBC ride out at Tinker Creek. Had a good group of TCC riders out there on Saturday to ride the Tinker trails and the Trans-Canada Trail. The Trans-Canada was much better than I expected. Fast, rolling singletrack--sure to be a hit with the FGBC. Hal and James did some serious negotiating during the post-ride BBQ, so he may have more to report. Let's hope we can work something out.

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Johnny G, Unger, and myself got in 3 quality hours of riding at Falcon Lake last Friday. Did a couple of laps of the race course, paid a brief visit to the Top of the World, and spent time working at a few of the more technical sections. I'm happy to say I was finally able to nail that rocky climb that comes just after the boardwalks. Won't way how many tries it took. I'm just happy that the practice paid itself off with some tangible results. I have found that this is not always the case--e.g., the little Buffalo Jump loop kept messing with me no matter how many times we did it. We'll see how things go at the race this Sunday. My legs are feeling a bit achy right now, perhaps from refusing to admit just how much ground can be lost by two weeks off the bike, but it feels like the lungs are starting to come around a bit. Still a long way to go, but there's a few good months of riding left--not to mention the upcoming FGBC fall race series. So no need to give up on the season just yet.Speaking of the FGBC race series, it seems we have identified at least three venues that would be worthy of a short race: Birds Hill Park (the Wednesday night course), Whittier Park, and Garbage Hill. More can be added if there is evidence of interest. With all the singlespeeds popping up (by my count Hal, Unger, Marls and myself are already equipped, with Johnny G to join us soon), we may have to include some sort of ss race in the schedule as well. Or perhaps we could just give some bonus points in the FGBC Cup standings to those who compete on ss. Will work at scheduling over the next little while, starting sometime after the Ultimate season comes to a close. Get it on the radar screen.Should also mention that we came up with a new event to keep us amused at future Bike Club outings. Pick a relatively technical section of trail (e.g., Top of the World, portions of Ingolf, etc). Everyone starts with a case of beer in the bank (I take it Johnny G will work something out with our sponsors on this point). Every time you put your foot down, you lose one beer. If you end up with negative numbers, that will go towards the beer fund for future events. Always looking for ways to improve riding skills.

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

I'm back in town and feeling generally out of shape. Bukit Kiara was a blast, but one ride in two weeks is not enough. Rode Whittier on Sunday and am feeling a bit sore, which is not a good sign. So I will be riding at Falcon Lake on Friday. Unger and Johnny G will possibly be riding as well. Anyone else is more than welcome to join us. Meet at the chalet. Time: TBD (call one of us).

Thursday, August 05, 2004

Anita an I rode Falcon on the long weekend. It was alot of fun. Just letting you know that the course is alot easier to ride when it is dry. For example I rode up the first wooden ramp in my second chain ring and in the middle in the back. So if anyone is interested give it a try.

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Greetings from Kuala Lumpur. Thanks to a series of extremely fortunate events, I was able to get a bit of a taste of the local culture here--mtbike wise. Rode for 2.5 hours at a place called Bukit Kiara. My guide was a very fine fellow named Pat, who just happens to hail from Saskatchewan. Has the singltrack of Birch combined with the roots of Thunderhill. Vegetation wise, kind of like riding in that stinky place at the zoo. Except the weather was hotter and more humid, by far. I don't think I've ever sweated that much in my life. Saw a few monkey like creatures, which was cool.Will write more later, perhaps. Must go for now. Save some stickers for me, Mark. I'm back on Saturday and am looking forward to it. Felt pretty out of shape riding, so will have to kick up the training a notch or two for the last few Cup races.

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Chris, Tim and I decided to pre ride the race Friday the night before the big event. I thought this was a good idea to ride the night before so I would have a chance to recover for the race the next day and so I would be better prepared for the race. It didn't turn out that way. The wet course with slippery roots, a lot of slow climbs and tricky downhill sections put a lot of self doubt in my mind. Once again I crashed and bent my hanger deraileur, probably on the easiest part of the trail. When we completed the 10 km loop, I was somewhat distraught and was actualluy thinking that I shouldn't ride the next day.

Race Day Saturday July 10th

With the skeptism mainly behind me, I think I'm feeling O.K. about the race coming up. I better feel good because there are only 7 riders entered in my category, which means a minimum of 3 points I can win for Tinker Creek in the team competition (you have to finish the race to get any points). The temperature at race time is 26 with fairly high hunidity, not good. I head up to the starting line with my start plan all worked out once again. Let all the other riders go first so you don't have to pay any attention to them when they are passing you later on. It works like a charm.

The first 1.5 km's or so are mainly downhill and with some boggy areas. At this point in the race I'm actually feeling pretty good. I manage to ride some of the downhill rooty section a little better than the night before. Any improvement is a good one for me. I only have to get of my bike once.

The next km is a slow climb with wet roots and some windy sections in the begining. Already there is quite a lot of separation between me and the closet person in my category. I'm way behind. I'm crawling; there isn't the same juice in my legs as the night before which is a bad sign. I shouldn't be in my small gear up front, but I just don't have the legs. At this point I'm starting to sweat and breathe fairly heavily, another omen. I'm often off my bike due to my lack of control when going over roots. Oh joy! Some of the riders who started in a start time behind me are already catching me. I don't have the stamina to maintain any kind of speed. Drop back down into the small chainring, back into the middle ring, no back in the small ring. What the hell ! This is only 3 km's out of 20. Calm down, drink water, you are just warming up, things will get better.

The next 2.5 km to 4 km doesn't have as many long uphills. I think that this is my time to ride fairly comfortably. Not me, recover, drink lots of water, keep in the middle chain ring. I'm never going to finish this race. I don't care if I don't get points for the team. Finally back to the lodge.

The next 4 to 6 km's or so is my favourite part of the trail. Winding with some ups and downs, but no long gradual climbs. An area of the trail where I think I can make up some time. For me making up time is not losing as much time as I did in the earlier part of the race. I start to feel a little better here. Maybe I can finish this race.
Back to the lodge; feeling pretty good about myself; I just might finish after all.

The next 6-8 km's prove to be my downfall. I start with a fairly short steep downhill just after a quick turn. I ride my brakes the whole way with my right foot of the bike on the ground. Not very smooth or good technique. I have to be careful because of my crash here the night before in the pre-ride.Keep on going, lots of winding single track ahead. I'm starting to feel my entire body slowing down. I just don't seem to have the power to climb any of the short climbs. There is no energy in my legs making, it hard to ride the uphill with any sort of proper technique. I'm off my bike here even more than I was in the earlier part of the race. Frustration has set in quite strongly at this point. Another fairly steep downhill, with roots on the path. I handle this one a lot better than I did the previous one. The only problems with downhill is that you have to follow it with uphill. Some slow winding uphill single track looms in front of me. I bonk, crash, get off my bike and quit. I can't handle this any more. I'm done. Points, who give a shit? I drink some gatorade and look down at the scenery. I can't ride any more I'm finished. Drink more you will feel better. I try to start riding again, 20 meters and I'm off my bike again, shit. I start to have that old feeling. The one that starts in my stomach and ends off with a good hurl. Fuck it! I'm quitting riding. What the hell am I doing here any way? The only inspiration is those stupid points for the team. Screw them. I continue to walk my bike up experiencing some dizziness at this point. who knows maybe I will feel better after the first lap and can continue on. No way I'm never going to make it. Keep going.

I finally make it back to the lodge with quitting on my mind. I only have about 2 km's to finish the first lap but have more less given up at this point. Be strong, finish the first lap then decide if you can make it around again. What the hell! Tim is by his car off the track.He never lapped me. He can't be finished (one of my goals; don't let the guys I know lap me). He must be having bike problems. If Tim can't finsih for whatever reason, I don't have to either. Sweet! Pain of defeat alway feels better with company. What? There's Chris, Rachel and Miriam. There's Gerald. I'm confused. There is some yelling at me. It's the race comissionairre. We are cutting the race short by one lap. She notices a bewildered and somewhat blank look on my face. "If you were to complete 2 you only have to do 1." What? Process this information. I only have to do one lap; I can finish. What a relief ! Only 2 more km's, I can do it. Keep on going--you still have the long climb ahead of you.

The last 2 km's start off with a shaley downhill. I feel pretty good about the way I handle the shale, in much more control than I thought I would. I think that the news that the race has been shortened has given me some extra energy. Wrong, any climb has me off the bike and walking. I make it all the way down to start off the last 1 km climb. I'm going to try my hardest to climb some of this. Granny gear has me slowly climbing up. Relax your shoulders, relax your whole upper body, breathe nice full breaths. Shit! Get off my bike and walk. I end up stopping a couple of times to look back to see if any of the elite riders are going to lap me. Not yet. My whole body is kaput at this time. I end up walking almost all the last km. Finally the feed zone which is located near the end of the lap. I get back on my bike for the last 30 meters. I take the last turn and triumphantly cross the finish line. Great joy that this hell ride is over.

Monday, July 26, 2004

Great excitement at the meeting. Marls comes up with the stickers, and they are fine. They're a little tricky to apply, so we got the start of a demo til the waitress sent Dave's bike out. It was a low moment.

We also noticed a group of about 6 guys all sitting around one table wearing fine FG product. As we are leaving one comes outside, so I had to ask... apparently it's fairly cheap. Get this $5 for the FGD ball cap. Then he says, we need to meet the FG employee he's sitting with, who just comes out for a smoke. We had a great chat. He loves our FGBC (although we didn't quite get around to the logo...). We had a nice talk about marketing and where the company's headed. More to share some time... but it's late.

hey all - i have the stickers in hand, and plan on bringing them to the cambridge tonite for dispersement. they cost $20, so if you want some, bring a couple of bucks. they are available in black, orange, and disco ball silver - beauty!

Sunday, July 18, 2004

Penner put a small video from our spring ride (the one he tried to email to y'all) on his webspace. Right click on the link and choose "save target as..." and save it to your hard drive. It's about 1MB in size.
Bike club video.

The only problem is that you need Windows Media Player Nine. You can get that here for older computers.

Sunday, July 11, 2004

So the Thunder has been trod. Not quite as epic as its name promises, but a bit of an ordeal nonetheless. Actually, the official race slogan--Tread the Thunder--is kind of appropriate for this race, since much of it ended up being covered by foot. Mostly, in my case, due to the short steep climbs that might be rideable if it weren't for spinning out on a root at the base. This is easily the rootiest course I've ridden in Manitoba. I'd forgotten about that part of it. My ass must have been sore last year, because it was yesterday as I bounced from root to root hardtail style, but clearly it has a weakened capacity to remember.

After Friday's wet and muddy, not to mention mosquito infested, preride, my mood for racing was a tad on the sour side. Why did we drive 6 hours to ride in a swamp for a couple of hours? With all the wet roots, this had the potential to be one dodgy race. But it didn't rain overnight as forecast, and it actually ended up being warm and sunny during the day, so by 4pm the course had dried up quite a bit. This made it possible to ride through all the squishy bogs and climb more hills than otherwise.

One of the great features about Thunderhill, aside from its dorky name, is its long climbs. There is one long, gradual climb about 1km into the course that just seems to go on forever. And then to end the 10km lap is a 1km beast of a climb that has a way of inducing some serious self-doubt. Actually, more like a 10 minute confidence-shattering crisis. Worst of all was the pain these climbs inflicted on my back. It felt like someone had attached a vice around my lower spine and was cranking it tighter and tighter with each turn of the pedal. In between the climbs is about 6km of twisty singletrack (not unlike the new section at Bur Oak but a little less tight) and a bunch of fun downhill sections. My plan for the race was to survive the middle section without losing too much time and to gain all of it back and more on the climbs. Things played out pretty much as expected: the middle section was characteristically sloppy. After a momentary lapse of concentration I nailed a tree which led to a cuss-filled tumble from my bike. There are likely also a few more pieces of bark out by Swan River with my hide clinging to it. At least I seem to be missing a few chunks of flesh from my knees and thighs. Fortunately, however, there were no serious incidents. On the climbs, I was able to reel in and then drop a bunch of riders who, as usual, I let get off the front at the start. I ended up spending most of the first lap in 2nd place, but was hoping I might be able to make up that time during the 2nd lap. That was not to be, however, as the officials called it a race after only one lap. I guess they thought we'd exceed the time limit set for us lowly Sport class riders by more than a reasonable amount. This is the second year in a row that has happened, which is kind of frustrating. But at the same time, it was nice to be spared the pain I would no doubt have had to confront on the 2nd lap.

Look for a report from Unger coming soon.

In other race news, start thinking about the stage race scheduled for Asessippi on Sept 4 & 5. Five stages in two days: a fat tire crit, an uphill time trial, a cross-country race, a downhill race, and . . . I'm not kidding . . . a round of Playstation 2 Downhill Domination (anyone have one of these we can practice on?). But most importantly for FGBC members is the special two-day license possibility. Non-licensed riders can get a temporary race license for $15. This is a perfect opportunity to try out a race without having to fork over the big bucks for the standard UCI license. You can register for as many or as few events as you like. It should be noted that there is a tradition of sorts shaping up of late summer events: namely last year's gender barrier-breaking Medora event, and the previous year's proto-FGBC riding at Riding Mountain. This looks like a great option to round of the summer riding season for this year.

Hal was spotted riding his bike on the road today. After riding to Unger's place and back, might it be possible that he's got more miles in him than some FGBC members?

Thursday, July 08, 2004

Unger and I, along with Tim L., are off to Swan River to race this weekend at Thunderhill. Sounds scary. I'm expecting some sort of Norse saga. The hope is that the distance from Winnipeg will mean fewer racers and thus higher finishes for us. Hope those at Folk Fest at least pause to consider that it would not at all be out of order to bring bikes to BHP for a little diverson from all the music.

Unger, James, and I had a nice ride yesterday at Garbage Hill, even if Unger did come out of it minus his bike computer. Plans are shaping up for the fall/winter race series, and you can expect the Hill to be included in the schedule. So head there for training if you like.

Hal reports that he is back on the bike. Still safely within the confines of his basement, but back on two wheels nonetheless. Seems to be missing a bit of strength in his calf, but he's looking to be ready for a late summer/early fall return to the races.

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Unger took Penner and I for a tour around the riding options at Birds Hill. It was a fine time. First, Burr Oak, where the current off-road racing happens. Some fairly tight corners like we haven't seen much of as a club... Unger went over the bars, I was stopped dead by a tree with a shoulder abrasion to show for it, and Penner drove his knuckles straight into a tree. A good time was had by all.

Then, a quick road ride over to the Chickadee area where the old course used to be, but it's obviously less well marked, so we dropped into a number of sections, but likely didn't find it all...

And back to Burr Oak to finish. When Penner was separated by a fork in the path, we determined that the possibility of a downed Penner was not worth continuing on, so we went on the search, and found him in the parking lot by the car...

Sunday, July 04, 2004

While I appreciate the race reports from the race director, I'm a little bummed to find out it's almost a week since Jonny went down on his road bike, and no word was given to the team. I paid a visit this eve to find him in a sling, out of commission for a while.

He doesn't remember what he hit, apparently, but his front tire punctured, and he went over the top, with a posterier shoulder dislocation... or something like that.

If I forgot to do it while there, I best do it electronically, "Best regards from the Klub Jonny. Heal well."

Thursday, July 01, 2004

The Bring a Friend Event is back at Birch. I'd forgotten how superior the riding is there. I think over the last year I've been trying to convince myself that there are other places to ride in Manitoba that are equally as good, but that's just not the case. Birch can throw so many different things at you--rolling, twisty singletrack, technical switchbacks, steep climbs, and longer, more gradual uphills for the roadies--that it makes racing there so much more interesting. Sadly, I was unable to find a friend to bring along with me. With the MCC ride also going on, as well as kids' birthdays, not to mention the standard run-of-the-mill apathy, nobody was available to cash in on the free opportunity to experience the thrill mtb racing. Or maybe it's the condescending attitude. Hopefully next year will be different. We need to start working at FGBC representation. What has the director of outreach been up to lately anyway? Happily, hopalong Hal came along, which made the whole event more enjoyable than it would otherwise have been. I especially appreciated he encouragement on my first trip up the lung-busting double camel climb, as well as his seeming approval of my off-the-bike descending technique on Chizzlers.

I wasn't expecting to do very well, since I hadn't raced at Birch before, and since it is more technical than the mtb racing I've done so far this season. But I ended up finishing a surprising 3rd. The new handlebars again deserve credit for some of that. I just feel like I ride more confidently now than I did when I was worried about running into trees all the time. Funny why it should work out like that. I think this is the first time I've completed an entire mtb race where I haven't come off the bike unintentionally. Hopefully that's a trend that will continue. But I was also able to maintain a more consistent pace than many of the others, who seemed to fade badly on the second lap. I think all the road riding, and especially the time trials I've been doing, are a big help there. While I'm hardly a climber, it is usually the hills where I'll make up time on the competition--though that likely says more about the competition than me. But in any case, all the climbing at Birch worked our to my advantage. About 3/4 of the way through the first lap, I started catching more and more people, and when I started passing those who usually beat me, that was a big-time confidence boost. I still finished 5 minutes back of Kevin B, so there's still lots of room to improve. Among other things, I need to work on starting faster off the line. But at this point, I'm just happy to see some better results. I'm sure things will look different at Falcon Lake, where the riding will be more technical.

Tinker Creek had a good overall performance: finishing 2nd and 3rd in 30+ sport; 1st, 3rd, and 4th in 40+ sport; 2nd and 3rd in Senior sport; and 1st in Junior sport.

We will have to take up Mr. Hudson and organize some sort of ride so that those FGBC folks who haven't yet experienced Birch can get in on the fun. Just ask the Duke how great it is. Darryl, you might have to take the lead on that, since you see Mr. Hudson regularly--unless Luke wants to step up to the plate.

The TdF starts in just two more days. Is anyone finally going to dethrone that Armstrong guy? Six in a row somehow just seems to exist on a different metaphysical plane. Not even Unger's Habs could get there. It's going to be a wild three week ride. We'll have to get together for some early-morning yerba fuelled fun for some of the more definitive stages. Just so you don't get caught off guard, you might want to start booking time off for July 16, 17, 20-22, and 24. But the the most important of all, and easily worthy of a sick day, is the Alpe d'Huez uphill time trial on July 21: 1130 m of climbing in just 15.5 kms could well decide the Tour. It's almost as exciting as those stickers Marls keeps talking about.

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Johnny G (aka gimpy Johnny) suggested this evening that we should do a pool of sorts for the Tour de France. The excitement starts Saturday morning, with live coverage daily on OLN. If there has to be money involved, that's fine with me. If not, that's fine too. We can steal the scoring system from cyclingnews.com or modify it to suit our purposes. Let me know if you're interested.

Road rage alert: watch out for a red Ford pickup with license plate ADW 624. It has a University of British Columbia sticker on the rear window. Asshole tried to run me off the road this afternoon--apparently as retribution for my failure to heed the Stop sign at Arlington and Wolseley. Okay, okay . . . I plead guilty. But still, to wait at the next stop sign until I get there before cutting me off is more than a little out of order. Beware the four-wheeled enemy.

"The sound of a car door opening in front of you is similar to the sound of a gun being cocked." --Amy Webster

So, the president and Unger have called a ride for Tuesday July 6. The only detail that is known is that we will meet at the president's at 6:30pm, which should have us on the trails shortly after 7:00.

It has also been confirmed that one Jeffrey Dale RL (Saskatchewan rep) will be joining us for the ride. We may need to come up with a ride for him if brother Greg's doesn't pan out.

Sunday, June 27, 2004

well, the transition is beginning... I got a new flash intro made, so I'm starting to move stuff from the old geocities site to the new one. If I haven't moved it, I have put a link to the old stuff... so you can start using the new URL for everything if you want:
www.fortgarrybikeclub.com

I will serve notice when there is no more content at the old site.

i heard a rumour that Marls is moving forward on stickers with our URL... any news Dr K?

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

With all those emails that clutter up my inbox encouraging me to buy a little pill that promises satisfaction due to added inches, it's easy to understand how my perspective got a little skewed. Not that I've ever purachased one, but the whole idea sticks in your head after a while. Gotta give those guys some credit. But after too many mtb races where I lost valuable time due to running into trees and other obstacles, it was impossible to ignore the fact that bigger is not necessarily better. So I switched the riser bars from the Kona with the Norc's much narrower flat bar. After a ride last night at Whittier and today's race at BHP, I'm happy to report that the results are good: no trees hit and the bike just handles that much better. Of course, I still lost to the same guys I usually lose to, but I'm hoping the gap was a bit smaller, since I finished four minutes faster than the last BHP race. So if you want a more satisfying experience go flatter and four inches shorter.

Monday, June 21, 2004

A book I am reading on the idea of the tragic contains the following attempt to delineate genuine from merely apparent tragedy by some yay-hoo named Geoffrey Brereton:

"The death of a great man in an air-crash qualifies for tragedy unequivocally; if he is killed in a sports car, the tragic quality becomes more dubious; if by falling off a bicycle, the whole conception is endangered."

Obviously this guy has never heard of Tom Simpson, whose haunting last words, "put me back on my bike," capture the dedication, spirit, and general love of riding that defines the FGBC. Nor has he heard of Marco Pantani or Graeme Obree, whose depression-induced falls from the bike were perhaps more metaphorical than literal, but hardly any less tragic for all that.

Somehow Mr. Brereton seems to have the notion that the idea of the tragic has some sort of direct correlation to the dollar value of the vehicle one dies in. Then again, if he's right I suppose most of us can look forward to relatively struggle-free lives, excpet maybe for Barg and his fancy bus.

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

waiting for a few written reports about the weekend. send an anecdote, or overall thoughts. jointly, we should be able to approach Chris' total # of words... Aiden (his royal "A"ness) with two Masters' should be able to give us a boost in the race with the Doctor... or perhaps the Duke, who took time to ponder the goings-on, rather than mess his head up with questions of who was going to go over the bars next...

Monday, June 14, 2004

A brief report and a few observations from the race this weekend. Happily my legs felt better by Saturday morning. Fewer tactical errors in the crit. Finished 2nd., after an exciting 30 minutes of riding laps around the leg, and another fast sprint finish. Need to remember to start those a bit earlier. I think all the wedding parties out for their pictures were a bit taken aback by all the commotion, but it was a great location for a race. Tight corners to string out the pack, and even a slight uphill finish to make the final sprint more painful. The time trial was held on River Rd., which would normally also be a perfect location. But at race time the winds were gusting up to 55 kmh. We were heading with wind on the way out and straight into it on the way back. Exactly the wrong way around. But apparently, I'm good at time trials. I ended up winning again, this time by 1:24, which left me with a lead of 1:20 heading into Sunday's road race in Minnedosa. Why do they start these things so early, and why do they insist we be there a full hour before start time to sign in. I hate getting up at 5 am. But the road race course at Minnedosa was worth it. The highlight was a long (for Manitoba) 2 km climb, just in case we hadn't suffered enough in the wind on Saturday, and an equally long downhill to bring us back into town at 70 kmh. With a good lead going in, I didn't have to push it. Just make sure nobody else gets away. I did try to go for the $40 prize for King of the Mountains the third time up the hill, but after realizing my heart was about to explode I decided to conserve my energy for the last 20 km. Ended up losing a two-man uphill sprint at the finish, settling once again for 2nd place. But it was good enough to preserve first overall. Pizza, pasta salad and $85 in prize money were a nice way to wrap it up. Should be good to cover a few more races, or maybe just to help keep our namesake company in business for a little while longer.

After a few of these races, I've come to the conclusion that roadies can be a rather anal, uptight, and edgy bunch. Just the kind of crowd where an FGBC member should feel right at home. I've never seen so many people with gadgets designed to check this and that. Gotta have that edge on the competition, especially against all those other talented Sport riders. Must get a little machine to measure the lactic acid buildup in your legs so you know whether you are done cooling down. Can't do a time trial without aero-bars. Actually I must admit to being a bit curious about those, since everyone tells me it would take another minute or so off the time trial. I've also never seen so many bikes getting thrown around. Apparently, when you flat in a race or get dropped from the group you're supposed to throw your bike down, stomp around and generally draw attention to yourself. I hadn't noticed any such display at any of the mtb races I've done, but maybe that's because I'm usually wheezing with my head down somewhere back in the trees.

Miriam was out with her cowbells again and had a blast. Forget the stickers Mark, we need a run of FGBC cowbells, if only as an emergency signal for those night ride crashes in the woods. At the pancake breakfast on Sunday, I overheard one guy complaining that his poor result was on account of not realizing we were on the last lap. Some kid, he said, was ringing cowbells the whole time and so he hadn't picked out the bell which signals one lap to go. I didn't have the courage to mention that the kid was my daughter, nor to point out that the 14 other riders were somehow able to realize just fine that it was the last lap and time to kick it up a notch. Nice excuse, pal. You've got nothing on FGBC. We don't need no excuses. Sure the dark's a bit skunky at times, but you can't apologize for that. We are exactly what we are. And sometimes we even ride our bikes.

a media page entry will be forthcoming. if anyone at the event would like to write a bit of something describing how sweet the event was, you can email it to me and I'll set it up as a blog entry and/or put some of it on the media page.

Friday, June 11, 2004

My legs are burning up. Not a satisfying feeling heading into the ominous sounding Leg Burner race this weekend. I guess pulling Miriam around by singlespeed Tuesday evening resulted in more lactic acid buildup than I had anticipated. But hopefully an easy, fast spinning ride this afternoon will flush all that toxic stuff out of there. The criterium tomorrow is at the Leg, starting at 9:30, for anyone who's not at Caddy. For those who are heading out, hope thie riding's good.

"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the human race." --H.G. Wells.

Monday, June 07, 2004

Yes, we are on our way... all the things this bike club stands for come together in one grand event. The time/space continuum is temporarily irrelevent. (Gravity remains, however. It should perhaps be moved to the agenda for next year's event that gravity be suspended as well... Yes, I realize it's a dangerous path, deciding to alter basic understood notions about the universe... but what are we as a Klub if we don't dream big? Friction? Free beer from the other FGBC? Jonny?)

So, transportation was somewhat arranged... dogs on Saturday eve will be supplied and figured into the per person cost of the event along with camping... let me put some of these things into a bit of a list...

the event is this weekend. We're camping at Caddy Lake. (I thought it might be good to start with the basics.)

we have three sites, and are allowed two tents on each site. so bring some of those.

Saturday supper is the traditional dogfest. Penner and I will supply dogs, buns and condiments (mustard, ketchup, relish, rooster sauce)

it would be very good if people would bring dog sticks if they have them

everything else to be brought, you need to bring on your own or with a group.

one item we did not discuss, which might be worth mentioning or discussing in the comments is the nature of lunch. Should we plan for lunches away from the campsite as per last year?

other useful items, this is now just as reminder

tarps and rope

chairs

beverage

lots of water... if the water's as bad as West Hawk was

firewood if you have, it's often pricey close to campgrounds

Jonny G and Unger stepped up as interim tech directors, and will bring any and all tools they have. bring your own tube if you can...

Once there is a bit of clarity on the lunch scenario, perhaps I'll send a group email reiterating some of these details.

Yes, the tour of Canaan. Okay, not a race I actually participated in, nor even a race that involved official FGBC representation. But my good friend Alex Hawkins from North Carolina did this epic mtb stage race this weekend. And there is even a FGBC connection, in virtue of his being singned up to do the 24 hours of Adrenalin race at Canmore last year with our sister club, Tinker Creek Cycle. But that was before he tore up his ACL. In any case, read on below, as you get a taste of what a bike club might involve if it were actually about biking.

In terms of more direct FGBC involvement, Unger and I raced at Grand Beach on Sunday, taking 7th and 5th respectively in the solid Master Sport 30+ class. As for myself, a distinct pattern is beginning to emerge: lose ground in the rocks and roots, pick it back up on the climbs and flat sections. Unfortunately, the few technical sections coupled with a bad start still left me a few minutes back of the leaders. And it doesn't look good from here on in, as this was easily the least technical of any of the mtb races we'll be doing this year.

The tour of canaan was crazy. you have to check out the format for the race at granny gear productions. so much to tell, where to start. i did win my division, and for this race that was 35-44 rather than 40-49. unfortunatly, there were not that many entrants, so winning hte overall was not much of an accomplishment (although living to tell about it was). But Sunday's 4-stage race was part of a larger WV points series, and thus a bigger turnout, and i won that as well. Despite the victory, I did not feel confident about anything all weekend, but rather felt so in over my head the entire time. i both loved it and hated it at various points in the weekend. the terrain and the riders there were so hard core it was unbelievable. i am so beat up right now (huge bruise on left foot instep, chainring gash on right shin, random scrapes from thorn bushes all over legs, deep bruise on lower left thigh, bruised right hip, bruised left ribs that make coughing and various other everyday activities painful) and exhausted. Chris, i have to say that the terrain (tons of loose rocks - especially on the downhills -, way too much mud, and slick roots) makes me want a more thorough investigation of the trans rockies route before considering such a venture. i spent so much time off of my bike - either falling off on hte downhills, pushing it up the inridable (b/c either too steep, too muddy, too rocky or too rooty) climbs, or carrying it over the unridable obstacles on the flats - i do not think i would want to do a weeklong ride of that nature. i like to be on my bike when i ride my bike. having said that, i was able to ride so much more downhill by the end of the second day and on the third day just from having been forced to learn how over the course of the weekend. In that respect it was like an intensive mtn bike camp. i am definatly a better rider now than last week. still, some mud and rock sections are just unridable, and WV seems to have more than its share of such, and i don't enjoy those. The first day was a splash of cold water in the face. there i was with my norba racerboy setup and, boom, they throw is into the muddiest, rootiest, gnarliest terrain. my tires were slipping, spinning and sinking. i fell into a mud bog that went up to my hip, and got smoked by the local singlespeeder (hardtail) on the downhill. (that was a pattern that would repeat itself throughout the weekend) after a 45 min rest its off for more. as it turned out, i held my own on the climbs, and the second race climbed for the first 6 miles. one fun part about the weekend was getting to know and mixing it up with the expert riders - though i usually lost touch with them on the descents. as we turned downhill in what was essentially a dry rocky river bed i could not believe this was a) considered a mtn bike trail and b) considered appropriate for a race! At teh end I heard one of the women say she loved that stretch. there are some crazy people riding mtn bikes in WV. I did not fall on that b/c i did not attempt to ride it, and only looked on in disbelief as another rider bounced past me. later, after some more climbing straight up a ski slope, on a downhill section that actually resembled a trail i endoed, driving my head into the ground and spinning onto my back. for a brief second i was thinking that that fall was not as bad as it could have been when i was suddenly jerked away from that thought by the impact of the bike on my chest (hence the rib injury). i forgot to mention - it is cold and wet and i am underdressed for the duration of this day. well, the rest of the way down was hell, as i was so psyched out and in pain. at the ski lodge where we finish for lunch i am stunned to hear everyone going on about what a great ride that was. also i'm shivering. the third ride of the day is mercifully rock free, except for a 1/2 mile downhill after just one mile whhen the singlespeeder buzzes past me, causing me to dismount in an uncontrolled, but upright manner, stepping awkwardly on a rock (hence the instep bruise). one day, 3 1/2 hours of racing, time for a hot bath and a nice group dinner at which i got to know a couple of the other riders.Doing several stages in one day is interesting - it gives you just enough rest to go out full speed again in the next stage, thus maximizing your suffering.

ok, i better be briefer on the next days. suffice it to say i had to do some reevaluating before the next days. my rim brakes were killing me on the wet and muddy downhills - so i rode my tracer for saturday's downill stages. I also had some pretty beefy tires and low seat setting - and i have to say it was almost fun. a 1.4 mile downhill that took me 15 min. on my new bike in an earlier stage took only 9 min on hte tracer. admittedly, i was becoming more proficient as well. we also did a giant slalom that was a blast.

for sunday's epic, 5 stage, 44 mile tour all over the area (various trails and railroad beds from one town to the next) i was back on hte spider but with bigger tires and a shorter stem - which proved to be a good setup. one early stage was a 10 mile uphill up a steep railway grade (although steep for a train is still not that steep - but no letting up the whole way) it was like a mass time trial - i think charlie would have been fascinated by it. because the terrain was so predictable you could just pick a gear and go, pushing yourself as much or not as you like. i tried to hand with some of hte experts, and did so for 18 min. at 18 min i discovered that i can only maintain 182 bpm (about 93-4%) for that long. i simply could not continue at that pace past that point. but remarkably, 178 was fine. and sitting in at 178 i was not losing more than 40 yards to these other guys, but no way could i have closed the gap. then at 30 min i began having difficulty maintaining 178 and found that i needed to drop to 175-6, except for occasional bursts (like the need to stand up for a while to prevent any long term damage to the nerves to my penis - that was an ongoing internal debate in my head - stand up to get some feeling back or just hold out till the end of the ride?) i finished in 47 min. about 2 min back from the guys i initialy set out with, 4 min back from a lead group - and then there was this guy, maybe 22yrs, a pro with trek from colorado who is gearing up for snowshoe next week - he finished in 37 min. During the last 20 min of the last stage on sun (which was the end of 3 days for me) i was simply in survival mode. i was burning through those gu packs in less than an hour and was simply trying to return in one piece. it was brutal. it was all i could do to keep from cramping, falling, sitting. it felt good to be done. would i do it again? no way by myself. if someone else wanted to go, maybe.

my eyes have been opened to a different segment of hte mtn bike community that i was not really so aware of. these guys scoff at teh norba weenies who ride such smooth and easy courses - road biking on dirt. and yet, they are not just outlaw freeriders. these guys are racers, but of a different breed. it made me think of the eco challenge. i'm not sure if that's for me though.

in the tub at the end of the first day i was thinking of turning to road biking - maybe too old for this mtn stuff, etc. not road racing (also brutal with its crashes) but centuries, etc. but at the end i am still on the mtn bike.

Monday, May 31, 2004

With the foul toxicity of all the smoke and bad excuses about not biking from Friday night's dogfest still fogging my normally coherent sensibilities, I headed out to Falcon Lake early Saturday morning for the inaugural Falcon Gold Race. It wasn't easy to leave in the midst of the great location debate, but it had to be done. The race consisted of three stages: a 14.5 km time trial, a 25 min. plus 3 lap criterium, and a 53 km road race. Things got kicked off with the time trial on South Drive--an out and back to the Falcon Trails Resort, on a windy and slightly undulating course. I felt alright, not great, but ended up winning the time trial by half a minute. But the euphoria of my first ever race win was short lived, as I lost all that and more in the afternoon criterium. The 30 minutes of racing around the small park in the town square were both faster and scarier than I had expected, but a good learning experience nonetheless. After a brief stint at the head of the pack, I got caught off guard at the halfway point and gave up the 15 second intermediate sprint bonus to the guy who finished 2nd in the time trial. It would have helped if I knew who he was, but I hadn't seen him at a race before and didn't really have the best sense of who the competition was. Not a great move on the tactical side of things. With about 10 minutes left, he and another guy got off the front again, and somehow I ended up a further 20 meters or so behind the chase group. Not really sure how that happened, but now I was stuck on my own having to chase back to the group. Another tactical fuckup in a quickly growing list. I did manage to bridge up after another 5 laps or so, but had to work so hard in the process that there was no hope of catching the two leaders. The revised plan was now to stay ahead of the 3rd place guy and to try and take the 30 second time bonus for 3rd place. This was briefly interrupted by a crash that I nearly got tangled up in. Two riders touched wheels and one of them went down right in front of me. Luckily I wasn't boxed in and was able to swerve around and avoid it, but a few of the others ended up with some nasty road rash and found themselves out of the race. But Mr. 3rd place was ahead of the crash and now had a small gap on me with only a few laps to go. Together with one of the Kids of Mud riders I pushed hard to bridge back up to him and we managed to do that with only one lap to go. Now we had the momentum, left Mr 3rd place in our wake, and fought a hotly contested sprint for third place. KoM guy went out first but I was closing in as we got to the line. Neither of us were sure who took it, but the officials decided it was him not me. We were 15 seconds behind the winner, the former 2nd place guy, and I lost another minute to him in time bonuses. The 30 second bonus for third would have limited the damage to a 30 second deficit, but as it was I ended up being bumped down to 2nd place by a full minute. Not sure how things would have turned out on Sunday for the road race, since I wasn't able to be there. So instead I'll try to repeat my time trial success and try not to repeat my mistakes in the criterium and hope things go better at the next stage race I'll be doing instead of the annual Bike Club weekend event. All in all it was a great day. The weather was perfect and I learned some valuable lessons. Too bad the FGBC-Tinker Creek contingent was so small, but there's always hope--Juan Eppstein and Jonny G both have fully functioning road bikes and would make solid additions to the sport classification. And now that Hal and Dave have acquired some new road wheels, things are looking up. If nothing else, anyone is welcome to come out and ring cow bells along with Miriam and the rest of my personal tifosi on the side of the road.

Saturday, May 29, 2004

Well, a fine evening for a dogfest... and a fine turnout. Juan (hosting), Unger, Bergen, Marls, Jonny G, Chris, Hal, Secretary... Country Meat and Sausages dogs were consumed by some. They are, afterall, the official dog of the club. We'll need to look into sponsorship. The good news is that they are currently available at Harry's Foods. Go support your small town (Blumenort) dog producer. (Perhaps we're not quite in a position to change our name just yet.)

There was a good deal of bike related discussion... what with there being a couple of racers in the club these days. (Hal, you're clearly part of the club, but you're not currently one of the racers. I hope that's OK.)

Attendance at our spring ride did get a bit more airtime... since the technical/race director has decided to race instead of join us, and then there's the whole matter of the Duke...

Unger's arrival, was the key to get down to serious business. Since the whole Morden area thing has hit the skids, location was the critical agenda. After numerous twists and turns in direction, we settled on West Hawk because of the potential diversity in riding options and if that area didn't work, to Spruce Woods with the FGBC.

This just in... an email from Juan Eppstein who was good enough to check into camping options on behalf of the Klub:

I have some news re: the camping arrangements. Group reservations are for groups of 31 or more, so we are limited to reserving a cluster of individual sites. Unfortunately, our favorite spot (sites F-1,2,3) at West Hawk were full. The only cluster there was E-6,7,8, but these seem to be a bit close to the neighbors still. My executive decision was to book at Caddy Lake, where I reserved sites 32,33 & 34 (see Caddy map under the minutes archive), which are at the end of a bay with no sites directly opposite.

Further info: - $27.75 per site for a total of $83.25. Bring cash or cheque to the event to square up the costs. - Sites are reserved under Darryl, Brian, and my name. - 4 people per site, 2 tents/site. - Reservation numbers are 209506, 209507, 209508. - Check-in 4:00 pm, check-out 3:00 pm (Sunday). - Cancellations/changes can be made until 4 days in advance of the booking.

Friday, May 28, 2004

Looks like our bretheren in Tinker Creek have been doing more than just riding lately. Well actually, since Hal bust up his leg a while back he's actually had some time to work on the Tinker Creek Cycle website. Check it out.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

It's now official. The best place for mountain biking in the province is set to open once again on June 2. See the official statement from the Manitoba Cycling Association. I realize the $50 fee will seem a bit too steep for some, but hopefully at least a handful of FGBC members will pony up so we can do some group rides.

Monday, May 17, 2004

Well, as you've learned, the meetings have migrated to the Cambridge on Monday evenings for now. Since it's an ultimate gathering as well, it's not all bike business, and in the interest of not segregating the whole thing, only the most serious agenda really gets proper discussion, but there is news to report...

first, the bad news. Hal had an ultimate injury, and last we heard, his ankle was broken. There seemed to be some uncertainty, so we'll update you on that asap.

second, the other bad news. It seems camping right in the Morden area is out. The Stanley Park option will under no circumstances tolerate us consuming any of our namesake beverage... and the general consensus on the campground is that it is not an option. The bit of good news is that Marls has done some quick research, and found us a bit of info on the Stephenfield campground which is less than half an hour from our desired riding area. Here's a link to the pdf. Seems promising. Shall we commission him to proceed with a booking? (This last bit of news is the "more" that the title refers to.)

dogfest. since there is no ultimate game next week, we will move our gathering to Tuesday, and enjoy a dogfest at Juan Eppstein's. Let's gather at 9:30 unless you hear otherwise. The president and I, the secretary, have been on dog duty before, and will have a go at it again. So please RSVP to the bike clube email address: bike_club2003@yahoo.ca

certainly nice to gather with some of the Altona contingent. More discussion of a southern cluster... the latest possible name is "The Old Dutch Bike Club". Very complementary.

The tastefully rusted, blue Norco--my trusty single-speed steed--is back on the road. Winter and spring were unkind to it. But the wonky bottom bracket, which necessitated a month-long mothballing, has been replaced with a brand-new cartridge and now she's (a female steed?) pedalling smoother than ever. Plus, as a reward for her loyalty, I've outfitted her with a new chainring. Now running a 46x16 drivetrain, I can barely keep up with her. Sure would like to spoil her with some shiny FGBC stickers.

May 17-21 is Bike to Work Week. For those of you who don't already, get with the program.

Trev, your quest for a new bike presents you with an ideal and long overdue opportunity to return to Winnipeg. Natural Cycles' Prairybike has Bechtel written all over it. It would suit you well for the annual spring ride.
Chris.

Sunday, May 16, 2004

well, I just posted a good update and then my MS Explorer crashed and lost it all...

so, quickly, meetings seem to have moved to Mondays at the cambridge because that's where most of the ultimate crowd goes that intersects with bike club. tough to get down to business with such a large and diverse crowd.

Unger is still working on site issues for our June gathering.

We haven't had a chance to talk about Trev's bike recommendation request in the comments of the previous entry...

hopefully there will be something new to report in the next couple of days...

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

Two riders. No peanuts or chips. Is there more to be said? Oh yah, the dark was fine, and everyone at the table enjoyed one... even Juan Eppstein. We may not keep the company alive by volume, but by persistence.

In discussion:

lots of racing talk. Unger, Chris and Hal raced at Birds Hill wednesday, and Unger raced at Grand Beach on Saturday. New experiences for Unger which seemingly put a few things into perspective... like, wow, those guys are fast.

some minor concerns for the June ride... Hal cannot join us, so we may not be able to do the Tinker part of the ride, but apparently the riding in the trans-canada trail bit is good too... we just need to be able to find it. Unger is almost convinced that he needs to do a reconnaissance ride. Some club encouragement would be a good idea. Juan even went so far as to suggest a change of location to West Hawk...

on the social scene, turns out Unger was at Olympia this week, and sees this guy in shades and a khaki jacket walking around picking stuff up to buy with little regard to price. As Unger's finishing up at the till, the guy comes up and brings his stuff to the counter. Robin Williams.

Well, there was likely much more, but remembering is not working, so there is little recourse but to hope other attendees will chime in, in the comments to raise other points.

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

The North Kildonan division of the club showed up on bikes. It only took 30min., which begs a couple of questions: 1) why don't they ride more often; and 2) why don't the closer people ride more often.

Marls brought chips.

Discussion ranged, so here are some of the more Klub oriented thoughts in no particular order:

Unger will be in his first race tomorrow, at Birds Hill. He tried to register under the FGBC, but we are not registered as a club. For that matter, Chris also registered without a club because Tinker Creek has also not registered.

related to above, Tinker has not registered because Birch is still closed, and apparently it's not looking particularly good for re-opening.

young Ben had a crash. Unger, Anita, Ben and Zoe[sp?] were out for a ride on garbage hill. Ben went vertical (head down) and managed to rip his knee open to the bone and break his collarbone. At first the extent of the injuries was unknown, so Unger rides to the nearest phone, calls Adolf, and waits. Adolf isn't coming, Unger's riding up and down Empress waiting for him, finally goes back to the phone for 911, goes back to find Ben shivering and going into shock, so he gives him his shirt and proceeds to ride up and down Empress bareback, waiting for reinforcements. Must have been quite the sight for the locals.

fortgarrybikeclub.com is now active. As mentioned, no files will move there until a few things get fixed up... but there is a link there to our current site, so if you forget, or want to tell someone about our site, you can start using the new url.

further in the media department, the president is working on the '04 fgbc DVD. It hopes to include member profiles and live fgbc action.

Trans-Canada Trail. Jonny rode the bit from the forest at CMU to Beaudry Park and suggests it's a nice ride... other than having to ride over the Perimeter Hwy.

as there was some question raised over the ability of our humble collective to have two professors as members (see previous blog entry), it seemed worthwhile to hear the humble words of the professor that is able to make it to regular meetings, "it shouldn't be a problem... there may be two profs, but there's still only one Doctor." Apparently it remains in the hands of the other (non-Doctor) prof to test the club's ability to sustain two Dr's.

some discussion of the bike auction, and auctions in general as potential fund-raisers. The theory is that we will buy cheap at auctions and garage sales, and sell high on ebay. Marls seemed ready to go on this work.

iron supplements became a significant topic. The race director takes them because he claims its necessary for a nearly vegetarian... our medical officer claims it's a certain level of blood doping. No resolution here. Then it turns out the nearly vegetarian race director isn't the only one on extra iron...

where the Deevil are Bergen and Luke?

Marls is still on sticker detail... working on a local option

finally, we are still proceeding with the spring ride on the given dates... it is not determined where we will be camping yet. Debate between the Minnewasta Lake site and the Stanley Park site...

Well, top of the news was jonny's email to the original FGBC, thanking them for their product, letting them know that we've kind of named our club in parallel with theirs, that we sometimes ride bikes and almost always consume their esteemed product. That was a week or two ago. The recent reply was in the nature of "Good show. Let us know about an event and we'll supply some free product." So, that's a fairly huge response to a potentially dangerous initial contact. The idea of a corporate interfacing portfolio was discussed. I suspect jonny's got it sewed up at this point. It's that darn disarming smile that he puts on in his emails... We'll see where this goes... it was never really, actually, pointedly mentioned that we are working with something of a parallel logo...

Marles is still on sticker detail.... thinking that a 1.5 x 5" effort with "fortgarrybikeclub.com" on it might be nice... so, with that thought, and the news that we are closer than ever to coming out of the closet with the larger FGBC, there was some concern about our level of profile. Jonny closed the discussion with the assertion that, "we are exactly what we are". Done.

Next Race: Garbage Hill, Sunday April 18 @ 2:00pm. Meet at the main gate at the SW corner.
A few members have been enjoying the challenge of Garbage Hill, none more than Hal who got his doors (figuratively speaking of course) blown off by some hot shot on a single speed. There is more than one FGBC member who is skeptical of even making one round on a bike with more gears than we know how to use. (Yes, I realize this is a very strong argument for the single-speed.)

Further to single speeding... Hal reported that the winner at the single speed world championships literally gets branded. It seemed like a good idea for us to consider such an honor for some winner at the big annual ride in June.

Birch discussion: The most recent news on the opening of the Birch riding area is that it's a maybe, but we're making plans to be ready if it does open. The requirements are a) membership in a club which is signed up ($150), and then b) at the very minimum, the plain $5 membership with the MCA. The significant option we're exploring is hooking up with the Tinker Creek guys, and thus dropping the per person amount. It is unclear whether we can exist as a "sister" club, or whether we take the Tinker colours to get through the hoops. Unger is working on the details. Stay tuned for a deadline date to submit a few $$$ to be in. Seven FGBC have made verbal commitments to ante up.

There was contact with the Duke in the last week. He seems confident that he will join us for the spring ride. He's also encouraging the beers and bike stands event to get his ride in order. A fine idea around this emerged, where we would pay Colin B (neighbour of Chris' and bike repair guy) for a group afternoon in his garage. The technical director is looking into this.

Finally, there was once again debate on how to measure results at the upcoming catwalk competition at the spring ride... distance or time?

and how do we factor in the all important style points?

... well, that ranks right up there with, "what's the meaning of life?" doesn't it?